


Out of Season

by WritingNeverending



Category: Gravity Falls, ParaNorman (2012)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Halloween, Haunted Houses, M/M, Magic, Marriage Proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:33:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24388972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WritingNeverending/pseuds/WritingNeverending
Summary: Dipper has transformed the Mystery Shack into a haunted house for one of his projects. Nothing wrong with it, par for the course when it comes to Dipper, except for the fact that he’s doing it in the middle of May.
Relationships: Norman Babcock/Dipper Pines
Kudos: 19





	Out of Season

Even before entering the clearing, Norman could already see several things wrong with the Shack. One, the jack-o-lantern pumpkins everywhere. Two, the new black and sinister purple paintjob. Three, the tormented wails and bloodcurdling shrieks coming from the windows. Four, the dark clouds hovering ominously above the building, shooting off lightning and howling winds, in an otherwise clear summer sky. And five, the ‘S’ in ‘Shack’ was back where it’s supposed to be.

Norman glanced to the side. “What am I looking at?”

“Dipper’s newest project,” replied Mabel. “Converting the Mystery Shack into a haunted house that could literally scare you to death.”

Huh. The first part sounded more like something Stan would come up with, but the second part had Dipper written all over it.

“And you and I get to be the first ones to experience it!”

“But it’s May.” And it’s not even close to Summerween.

“So it’s a test run?” Mabel shrugged. “And I guess that makes us his guinea pigs.”

Norman took another look at the transformed Shack, and sighed. “I feel like I should be mad at him.”

“But you don’t because you love him too much?” Mabel didn’t hold back with that cheeky smile.

“I also have a _job_ that I love. He knows I should be doing that right now.” Norman sent a pointed stare at the girl beside him. “You do too.”

Mabel made a weird, high-pitched noise. “It shouldn’t take _that_ long. What’s the usual haunted house length, ten minutes?” Her exaggerated shrug didn’t fool anybody - there was an ulterior motive here. “Look, the way I see it, we do Dipper a favor _and_ we get a free haunted house walk! You _love_ haunted houses!”

Norman let the stare last for three more seconds before letting up. If it’s Mabel, it couldn’t possibly be anything too bad. Maybe.

“He got permission from Soos, right?”

“‘Course he did. He’s mad, not rude.”

Norman sighed.

“Alright, this actually looks pretty cool. Let’s do it.”

“Right behind ya!”

The front door opened slowly, accompanied with the appropriate high pitched, creaking whine, leading into a dark corridor. Norman took the tentative first steps past the threshold into the structure. He was not at all surprised when a burst of wind picked up, and the door behind him slammed shut, plunging him into near-total darkness. Alone, he found out, as he spun around and saw that Mabel was not with him. Not surprised, and not quite disappointed either.

“Yep.”

Candles burst to life by themselves from the corners of the room - wait, room? - bathing it in dim, eerie green. The wooden door behind Norman was no more, replaced with a solid wall, with the only exit from this room being a hallway shrouded in shadows. He couldn’t hold back a smile. A subtle teleportation spell, followed by a simple fire spell. Leave it to Dipper to infuse real magic into a hokey attraction.

“GREETINGS, O FOOLISH, MISGUIDED SOUL.”

A booming voice rumbled, shaking the entire room, striking fear into Norman’s very core. A booming voice that, despite being heavily altered and modulated beyond recognition and enhanced with fear-inducing enchantments, Norman still recognized belonged to Dipper.

“YOU HAVE BREACHED UPON MY DOMAIN. IT IS A REALM OF DARKNESS AND NIGHTMARES. A REALM WHERE LIGHT COWERS AND THE DEAD DO NOT REST. WHATEVER MADDENED INTENT LED YOU TO THIS PLACE NO LONGER MATTER. DOOM IS ALL THAT AWAITS ALL WHO VENTURE HERE.”

Norman couldn’t keep himself from grinning. This was the kind of cheesy shit that he _loved_.

Indecipherable runes revealed themselves, lining the walls of the shrouded corridor, bathing it in a sickly green glow.

“PROCEED THROUGH THE THRESHHOLD, FOOLISH SOUL… TO A FATE WORSE THAN _DEATH_.”

Norman clasped his hands and rubbed them together in anticipation. “Don’t mind if I do.”

With reckless abandon, Norman entered the corridor with a skip in his step.

And damn did Dipper not disappoint.

First, the corridor opened up to a forest of decaying corpses, hanging by their necks by miles upon miles of barbed wire. Halfway through, the corpses fell to the ground, shuddered to life, and started chasing after Norman. He eluded them all and dove into an open mausoleum with a hearty chuckle. What a delightful start.

But the floor of the mausoleum suddenly collapsed, sending Norman plummeting into the abyss. When his bearings returned, he found himself tangled in a web of black silk. Apparently he had landed in a nest of horrible, mutated spider-leech hybrids, and the swarm was rapidly converging upon him. Using a piece of debris and a lit candle that just so happened to be conveniently within reach, Norman escaped, scurrying into a network of tunnels. Now that was delightfully harrowing.

He emerged from the tunnels into what seemed to be a ruined alien city, where ruthless scavengers scour the wasteland, willing to do anything to survive. A deadly cat and mouse game ensued, Norman darting in and out of the shadows of fallen skyscrapers. He eventually stumbled upon a haven of survivors who hadn’t given in to their basic instincts. He listened to their plight, helped them secure a foothold to rebuilding their civilization, and procured a method to get off-planet. He’s beginning to think some kind of time perception-altering enchantment was in place here. This was starting to feel a lot longer than ten minutes.

And the ride continued on. He ran afoul of a storm of vengeful specters. He was chased by a rake-wielding serial killer. He faced off against one of the Horsemen. He caught a glimpse of Hell itself. It was disturbing. It was expansive. It was captivating. It got way too pandering and out-of-focus, if he was being perfectly honest. But above all, it was fun. Terrifyingly, exhilaratingly _fun_.

Now, after diving bodily into a witch’s cauldron, Norman was dropped, ass-first, into what seemed to be a nondescript dark room. Brushing himself off and taking a closer look around, Norman was certain this room used to be the Shack’s spare bedroom. His cheeks grew warm, despite himself, as a rather fond memory surfaced, of his first kiss with Dipper in this very room.

A sudden hiss sent Norman into high alert. His guard didn’t drop even when he saw it was only caused by a pedestal rising at the center of the room. He approached, slowly, and spotted a black box on top of the pedestal, small enough to fit in his palm.

Norman snatched up the box and immediately braced. No crumbling ceiling. No hail of arrows. No swarm of fire ants. Curious.

The box was not secured with a lock, Norman realized, so he pried it open. He expected an ancient key, a cursed idol, or an enchanted talisman. What he got was a simple, yet beautiful, silver ring.

His eyes narrowed. “What?”

A flash of light from behind him sent Norman into high alert once again. He spun in place, ready for anything, yet was still unprepared, caught off guard by the sight before him. Dressed in gaudy, edgy, high-collared vampiric robes, kneeling on one knee, and smiling gently up at him, was his beloved Dipper.

Norman blinked. And gasped.

Everything suddenly clicked. The extravagant presentation. The attractions blatantly pandering to his tastes. The ring. Of _course_ Dipper would pull something like this.

“Norman… will you-?”

“ _Yes_!”

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was commissioned by orbmanson7 over on Tumblr, who wanted some cute Parapines moment in Halloween. Can’t keep myself from making fun of the fact that you asked for this in the middle of May, sorry about that. Sorry also for shoehorning in my ‘Dipper gets crazy good at magic when he’s older’ headcanon. Hope you still like it though! Hell, hope all of y’all liked it, it’s pretty fun to do.
> 
> If y’all want to follow my writing and show your support, check out my tumblr right [here](https://chronicler-of-legends.tumblr.com/)!
> 
> REUPLOADED because it didn't show up in the tags for some reason.


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